When women mistreat the community property known as their bodies, someone’s gotta step in. Our “friends” at WEtv (Women’s Entertainment tv) have an all-new original series called I Want to Save Your Life. It showcases “undercover health interventions” by Charles Stuart Platkin, also known as the Diet Detective. Check out the promo video (thanks Feministing), wherein Platkin stalks unsuspecting fatties and catches them in the act of eating dessert food. Tsk Tsk.

Naturally, the justification for this sexist exploitation is “health.” Platkin the superhero is providing a public service! What would women do if we didn’t have complete strangers to protect us from ourselves and our self-destructive choices? It’s just too dangerous to leave us in charge of what to put in or take out of our own bodies. I am all for teaching people healthy eating habits and encouraging balanced diets and regular exercise, but this is sensationalism. Thin people aren’t glared at when they treat themselves to “bad” food. Thin people are allowed to indulge, because they’re thin. Meanwhile, it’s assumed that fat people eat nothing but cheeseburgers and donuts, so people shake their heads when they catch a fatty in the act.

The only redeeming thing about WEtv is the six straight hours of Golden Girls they broadcast every weekday. The rest of their programing is about either losing weight or gaining a husband. Has anyone actually seen this show? Maybe it’s not as bad as the website and promotional video make it seem.

19 Responses to “I Want to End Your Life”

Ah, so the show is about “an incredible mission to bring Americans back to a healthy lifestyle.” Yeah right. There are plenty of thin people (like my fiancé) who eat utter crap and rarely exercise, yet they are able to stay thin because of genetics. And yet I seriously doubt that thin people like my guy will be featured on this show.

Who is authorizing this stalking? Is it like “What Not to Wear” and “loved ones” nominate a person?

In this promo, it looks like the husband is in on it. If so, it answers the sometimes difficult question: how you know if you married an asshole? Answer: if he hires someone to stalk and fat-shame you. Ding! Finally, an easy way to know.

I watched an extended preview (different from the one at Feministing) which presented three women and one man. While I hate the stalking concept (and makeover shows in general) all participants must somehow have given their consent to participate (and it blows my mind that anyone would ever do that) Ugh indeed.

Anyone who tries to take away my ice cream will get a pint of Haagen Dazs pistachio hurled at their head. To stay on topic, the whole weight discussion has become so acrimonious that sensationalism is viewed as the only thing that works. And sensationalism begets fat shaming and fat shaming begets a whole host of shit. Today I saw an add for a “diet chip” type product with the tagline, “All the love, none of the handles”. How clever.

I recently got in an argument with a friend who was insisting that all overweight people are lazy and that anyone who can’t lose weight just isn’t eating the right things or exercising enough. No matter how many different ways I explained to him that it is NOT just about diet and exercise, that there are plenty of people out there who do all the right things and continue to gain, he kept saying that it was all a matter of laziness. That kind of attitude is bigotry, plain and simple, and I told him so. But it boggles my mind how many times I’ve encountered this belief among people who consider themselves progressive and tolerant. I find it particularly infuriating that it always seems to come from men. It’s easy to pass judgment on women’s bodies under the auspices of concern for their health when you’re completely oblivious to the social pressures that hold women to an impossible standard of beauty.

and ugh, the title of the show is just… beyond belief. How about a side of sanctimony with that fattening dessert?

It’s frustrating because there are two layers of ignorance we have to combat. First, that fat = lazy. Second, that it even matters.

It’s similar to the debate about what causes homosexuality. It’s easy to get stuck in the trap of saying, “but they’re born that way!” which only perpetuates the notion that “that way” is a bad thing and something to be avoided if one can help it.

So will they be following people with eating disorders? If they aren’t eating anything, you can’t prove they’re eating a poor diet. But of course, skeleton thin is no indication of poor health like a muffin top is.

Add this show to the list of reasons I’m totally okay not having cable. Fat = lazy AND stupid! The next person who suggests that fat people–hell, that any people–are ignorant of what calories are and just need to be saved from themselves (on TEEVEE, even!)gets my rain-booted foot up his ass.

This show really speaks to how much self-loathing people have absorbed from our culture–that they’d be willing to subject themselves to this. Because if someone came to me and said, “Hey, you’re so fat you’re going to die, how about going on national television?” I tell them to fuck off and mind their own business. And then call PhDork so she could stick her rainbooted foot up their ass.

I’d be the the same with “What Not to Wear”, although I love Clinton (and to a lesser extent, Stacey.) If my friends did that kind of intervention, I’d be so hurt I’d never speak to them again. I think those shows play on people’s worst insecurities.

@BeckySharper: I have to say “What Not to Wear” is my unfeminist guilty pleasure. I don’t like the stalking or the shaming much, but I do like the fact that they encourage to feel good about your body despite its size*.

*This is a meager justification to a show that does prey on people’s insecurities. It’s also a justification on how I can live with myself for watching it.

@Ariel: No, I agree, Stacey and Clinton’s hearts are in the right place. And they do make women feel better about themselves in the end. I just hate that “OMG, you look so trampy/dowdy/messy intervention part.” It would seriously hurt my feelings.

That said, one of my best friends and her husband were on WNTW as a couple and they had a ball, and learned some good fashion tips. I think because they did it together, it was fun for them. Of course, they’re now divorced. So who knows?

Have any of you actually seen an episode of the show? It’s clear that all the people helped APPLIED to be on it. And instead of humiliating people the way they do on other diet shows, with half-naked flabby people being marched up to giant scales to display their dreadful weights to the world, these people, who asked for help, get good, personal advice on how to get their weight down to a healthy level. Not women, people — applicants and selected people are both men and women.

I’m an old-time feminist, but I just don’t see this as a feminist issue. A woman who weighs 250 lbs needs help, and when she asks for it and gets it, and we can all learn something in the process, I don’t find anything worth complaining about.

MiddleAgedMama, I can only speak for myself: I haven’t seen the show, only commercials/online clips. No cable. (And no regrets.) Maybe people did apply to be on it, and maybe they want advice. Regardless, THE SHOW IS ABOUT SHAMING FATTIES. And–this is no small point–not just, or even primarily, the ones who “chose” to be “helped” on camera. With the stalkery dude trailing the…guest stars? sacrificial lambs? and the vomitous “learn to love yourself” bullshit, the show is insulting to and exploitative of everyone who ties their self-worth primarily to their looks (as we are all encouraged to do in this late capitalist society). Anyone–250 pounds, 350, 450, whatever–can and should love themselves just as they are. And eat ice cream while doing it, if they want.

You don’t have to find it offensive, but I’m not sure how you can say that fat isn’t a feminist issue. That idea is pretty “old-time feminist,” too. Perhaps, as you say, it’s not worth complaining about, but I would find your protestation more convincing without those “half-naked flabby people”and “dreadful weights” comments.

@MAM: Also, it’s important to note that when the network is looking for people for a new reality show, the producers are under no obligation to tell the participants what the tone of the show will really be. The producers could have made it sound like it would be a a medical advice show and then ambushed the participants with the shaming. I suspect there was some lying to get people to go on this show. Remember Joe Millionaire? That was an embarrassingly huge hit.

This is a sensitive topic for me, because my sleazebag ex-boyfriend was one of these people who tried to bully me into the gym with the “it’s only because I love you” line. Since we broke up, I was motivated by the example of supportive friends, lost 4 dress sizes, and ran over 400 miles in the last year. Cry for help all you want, but nothing will work for you if you’re not working for yourself.